"--and the company of good friends and allies!" Prince Birch cut in before he rose to his feet and raised his goblet, "I would like to propose a toast!"

Princess Cauladra followed her husband's lead.

Both Quake and Mermidon stood and raised their goblets in kind, "Huzzah!"

Prince Birch broke out into a raucous laugh while Princess Cauladra did a much better job of hiding her mirth with a soft chuckle.

"You're supposed to shout 'Huzzah' AFTER I have made my toast, my friends, not BEFORE my toast." Prince Birch replied after her calmed down from his laughter.

Quake shrugged, "Oops! My bad."

Mermidon shook his head, "Then what is your toast, Prince Birch?"

******

The Swordsman departed the room, left the castle, headed out into the city and soon left the city walls behind in search of his friend, Dragolem.

Once Irzen was outside the city walls, he saw only a thick wooded area and the sounds of someone running hard. The figure stopped long enough to check its surroundings before the shadows came up from underneath. It screeched once and then the sound of wood slicing through flesh ending in a growl.

"Well, well, well. Took you long enough, Irzen." Came a sinister and sarcastic reply as Dragolem's form materialized in front of him, "Vampire remnants. Leftovers trying to set up shop and build up their numbers."

"Good to see you too, you nasty piece of work!" The Swordsman smiled at Dragolem, "How the hell have you been? I heard you're taking up bounty hunting these days. What brought this about?"

"Meh," Dragolem snapped the neck of another apprentice blood mage without even thinking about it, "The Lady did the hard part, it's my job to clean up the rest. I will be straight with you, if the blood mage convinced the Lady to turn, I would be public enemy number one leaving a trail of blood and death everywhere."

"Because of your connection to Alyson, I understand." Irzen nodded his head in agreement, "But that did NOT happen. Still, you ran off and left us during the middle of a battle after Mermidon fell? Why?"

The black draconian walked up into the space that was the swordsman, "It would be the same reason if you were severed from your other half, human. Yeah, I know about you hitching a ride in a body that's not your own. Thinking you wouldn't be able to survive in the Realm as a human, well you are wrong. Very wrong. We were created to evolve and grow. We were awakened the moment we came into being and allowed to think for ourselves. You hide in the shell of a drow, human. What are you afraid of that you need a suit of flesh armor when you can walk around without it."

"Irzen cannot live without me and I cannot live without Irzen," The Swordsman replied evenly, "He and I are one. Dungeon Master explained to me that Irzen's resurrection after his fall from the not-so good graces of The Dark Lord came with a heavy price! I was bound to him and he to me. If we were separated, neither of us would live very long without the other. His body, our souls, blended into one magical fusion that allows us to exist. Without that fusion, we would surely die."

"Hmph!" Dragolem crossed his massive arms. He wasn't impressed, "A symbiotic relationship doesn't give you the right to inform the Lady that she rents space for being an avatar. So can it, or I will. At least there's no illusion or pretense of her being something else because you don't like being a messily human."

Irzen smiled with an evil grin, "That's why I like you, Dragolem, you don't mince words. You're always direct and to the point. Fair enough, I'll give Alyson a break on the whole avatar thing. I confess this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. You have a deal!" The Swordsman extended his hand for Dragolem to shake it.

He looked down at the swordsman grumbling, "A human trait. Drow, like their surface cousins do not shake hands but if you insist." Dragolem returned the handshake with a near bone crushing grip.

"You got a good grip there!" The Swordsman smiled through clenched teeth as he winced in pain, "May I have my hand back? Thank you!"

Dragolem grinned, "So no more handshakes? Shame."

"I'll always shake your hand, Dragolem," Irzen replied with a grin of his own, "The moment you remember your own strength and loosen your grip a little."

"Oh. I know the true strength of my grip. What you felt was only a fraction of what I'm capable of. I thought you needed a reminder not to piss off the lady again, that's all." The black stepped back into the shadows again only to pop and stake another vampire, who thought they were sneaky.

"That's very thoughtful of you," The Swordsman rubbed his sore hand, "Consider myself reminded. Although, in complete fairness, it doesn't take much to piss off your creator these days. She seems to be living on a razor's edge, ready to pounce on anyone that even so much as steps out of line. Care to explain why that is?"

"Explain what? That the lady is or has been irritable of late. That she invoked the Nine Fold law in order to fight the Legion of Evil because she was uncertain of the outcome between said chaos lord and the Gamer. That what she has done to help guard the Realm against greater evils than the Venger himself, makes her more aggressive. It's a price she chose to pay. A price she has to live with until the end of her life. She will out live you times five unless, one finds a Wish and uses it to free her of said burden." Dragolem snorted.

******

Serna pulled a War Scribe maneuver and stuck her tongue out at Caliaphy.

Madeous followed quietly behind them to make sure they were exiting the palace, "Talk less, walk faster. You two are starting to get dagger eyes from the servants."

"Yes sir!" Serna picked up the pace as they were escorted from the palace.

Caliaphy glanced behind her and Serna to see the platinum knight still following. She picked up her pace a little and whispered to the girl, "He's following us. Why is he following us?"

"I can hear you, kurori." Madeous replied.

Serna just shook her head and said not a word as she continued her march from the palace.

Madeous ushered the two of them back outside of the palace walls and pointed to a nearby fountain, "Serna. Over there is where you can wash your face."

"Thank you." The Shield Maiden replied meekly before she walked over to the fountain and began to wash her face off.

The kurori sat on the edge of the fountain running her tiny hand through the liquid and occasionally flicked some water in Serna's direction.

The Shield Maiden gave The Kurori a hard look but said nothing.

Madeous came over and leaned down, "Don't."

Caliaphy looked up and lost her balance slipping over and into the fountain with a splash. She surfaced, spitting out water, "Ha ha ha! Very funny, your majesty."

Serna began to giggle at Caliaphy's predicament, "Serves you right, you little turd, now whose all wet?"

The kurori climbed up onto the edge of the fountain and shook out her wings like a dog in the girl's direction. "Ha! Right back at you!"

The platinum knight grumbled loudly again. "Perhaps I should inform Lazheros?"

"What? No! No! I'll be good!" Caliaphy stammered and jumped off the edge of the fountain onto the cobble stone street.

"Yeah, right!" Serna mumbled under her breath.

Madeous kept one eye on the kurori and the other on the shield maiden, "When was the last time you had a full rest, Serna? I'm not talking about a nap, either. I mean a full eight hours of sleep?"

"I've been too terrified to sleep as of late." Serna confessed honestly, "With all of those vampires running around and out for my blood. Why do you ask?"

"Because I've had plenty of experience with Alyson when she was your age. You are over tired and the threat of the vampires is no more. If you continue to avoid sleep, I know of a certain cleric who is very good at getting children to take long naps." Madeous said firmly.

Caliaphy didn't say a word. She knew who the platinum knight was talking about, the Bronze Man.

Serna gasped at the full realization of what Madeous said, "SO HE DID ZAP ME TO SLEEP BACK IN WESTFALL! The nerve of him! I'm going to give him a peace of my mind when he wakes up! I promise you!"

Caliaphy looked at the platinum knight and then at Serna, "All I know is that I was really, really tired after that battle cuz' I crashed on that nice fluffy bed."

Madeous raised an eye brow, "Hmm, perhaps he should do it more. He's had centuries of raising children of the lesser races, Serna. Your problem is you're trying to grow up too fast and be an adult. Don't, otherwise you'll wish you had enjoyed your childhood."

"You and everyone else keep saying that I'm trying to grow up too fast," Serna replied honestly, "But every time I look up, you and everyone else, keep putting me in life-threatening and dangerous situations that are forcing me to grow up fast. I have a childhood-and its a good one. However, its hard to enjoy your childhood when you're running for your life or beating up baddies!"

"And who's choice was it to leave the safety of Deeping Dale? That is where you hail from is it not?" Madeous countered with his own questions.

The kurori climbed back on the edge of the fountain and sat down. She simply sat there listening to debate between the two humans.